Jejana answered, “Pray! what is praying? Tell me how to pray."

“Go in a place all alone, my child, and say, 'O God, help me; O God, teach me.' He will hear you,—indeed he will.”

Jejana was very glad to know that she might pray, and she did not like to wait a moment; so putting down the dish that was in her hand, she ran behind a bush, and cried, "O God help me, O God teach me, for David says thou wilt."

David, you see, was the name of the old black man. Jejana prayed in his name, for she did not know of the name of Jesus—that name which is above every name, and through which we obtain favour with God.

But God heard Jejana's prayer, and soon he helped her and taught her. How?

It was the custom of Jejana's mistress to read the Bible aloud in the great room where the family sat. Jejana tried to be in the room when her mistress was reading, and she brought hot water to wash her master's feet, just at that time. But her mistress soon forbade her to do this, saying it disturbed her. Are you not surprised that a woman who read the Bible could be so cruel? But many read that holy book only as a form, or in order to seem good.

F

One day, however, Jejana was churning at the end of the great room, when her mistress began to read. These words were in the chapter: "Ask, and it shall be given; seek, and ye shall find." On hearing this promise, Jejana cried out, "Whose words are those?" Her mistress answered, "They are not for you." O what a cruel, what a false answer! Jejana believed that those words were for her, though she did not know they were the words of Jesus.

At last she told her mistress that she longed to go to some place where she might learn about God.

"Are you mad, Jejana?"

"O dear mistress! I want to go and learn about God, for if I stay here, I shall die.”

DIE, THEN," said her mistress, "for what are you better than a beast."

"O mistress! I have a soul; the minister told me so; and I feel that if I stay here without God, I shall die, and go to hell.”

"If you ask again," replied the hard-hearted mistress, "you shall be beaten from head to foot."

Soon afterwards Jejana escaped, and went to the town where she had heard the minister preach. His text this time was, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Now Jejana heard how Jesus had died for her

upon the cross, and how ready he was to pardon her sins, and to receive her as his child. Now Jejana felt relieved of the burden of sorrow, that had so long pressed her down.

Next day her old master came to the town to claim her as his slave; but when he set the case before the judge, he could not prove that the poor girl was a slave (for in truth she was not), and he was obliged to return home without her. Jejana became a servant in a Christian family, and became also a devoted servant to Jesus Christ her Saviour.

Here is an instance of the truth of God's promise, "Ask, and ye shall have."

Let none suppose that all the wives of Dutch boors are like Jejana's mistress. No, there are some who are kind and pious.

There are no slaves now at the Cape. The Hottentots are hired as servants.

There is an army too of Hottentot soldiers; they look like a school of boys-they are so small-but they are useful in defending the country, because Englishmen are their commanders.

THE COUNTRY.-Near the Cape the trees are cut down, the streams are dried up, the grass is burned up; but there are splendid FLOWERS.

The aloe plant is twice the height of a man, and is crowned with large scarlet flowers. At

a distance a clump of aloes looks like a regiment of soldiers. The plant is not well known in England by sight, but it is by taste, for it is a common and very bitter medicine.

A journey in South Africa is very tedious and toilsome. The travellers go in a waggon, for they have to take everything with them,— beds and blankets,-kettles and saucepans,and these occupy much room. Oxen draw the waggons, and twenty are not too many for one waggon, though sometimes there are only ten or twelve. At night the oxen are let loose to find grass and water for themselves.

In going over the KLOOFS the poor oxen sometimes die from fatigue. These kloofs are the prettiest places in the Cape. They are narrow valleys, through which a narrow stream flows, overshadowed by trees and adorned by flowers. There is one place, called Kradok's Kloof, which frightens the traveller when first he beholds it. He gets out of the waggon, and sees the oxen drag it down the road, which is almost a precipice; then he sees them mount the other side, which is almost as steep as a wall. Scattered about the road are the bones of oxen that have expired while in the act of drawing up waggons.

WILD ANIMALS. Before the Dutch and English settled near the Cape, there were a

great number of wild animals there; but now the creatures have taken alarm, and have retired to the inner part of the country.

Beyond the great Orange River the plains are covered with troops of wild animals.

There are the ostriches with snow-white tails, the largest of birds. They run more swiftly than a horse can gallop, because they have wings to help them on.

The long-necked giraffes, the tallest of animals, quietly crop the bushes.